(Closed) Help! I have no idea what I should be budgeting for catering…

Our wedding is going to be held at an incredible local heritage home called the Ralph Connor house. It’s an 10000 sq. ft. mansion, and we have rented three floors. Due to the particular set up of the mansion, though, it does not lend itself to seated dinners (seems like they weren’t into open concept back then, even if they had the space to spare!). As such, we’ve decided to do a standing reception with heavy hor d’oeuvres instead of a sit down dinner.

All that said, we were pretty excited about our venue because it’s all inclusive, until my mom actually had a chance to try the food… and it’s teeeeeeerrible. We’re lucky enough that we’re able to hire an outside caterer to host the event, but now I’ve got no idea how much I should be budgeting for food only! We’re inviting 120 guests, expecting 100. Any suggestions? Is there like… a calculation for this!?

@MrsRevolutionize: Unless you live in an expensive area or will be going high-end, I would budget about $40/pp for heavy hors d’oeuvres. You will also need to ask how much the charge is for waitstaff, kitchen assistants, etc. I would find a few caterers you like, talk with them about your budget, then go for a tasting with each.

@MrsRevolutionize: I’m not sure where you live, I live in Cali and our plates are $110/pp which was (believe it or not) one of the cheaper ones that I found. However; once we chose the venue we didn’t have a choice of the caterer since they work together.